Volume 69 Number 5 October 2002	back to contents

Dean's Lecture Role of Stathmin in the Regulation of the Mitotic Spindle: Potential Applications in Cancer Therapy	299-304
Sucharita J. Mistry, Ph.D., and George F. Atweh, M.D.

From the Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY.

Address all correspondence to George F. Atweh, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Chief, Division of Hematology, Box 1079, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One East 100th Street, New York, NY 10029; E-mail: george.atweh@mssm.edu

Presented as a Dean’s Lecture at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, on March 8, 2000 and updated as of February 4, 2002.

ABSTRACT

Stathmin is a member of a novel class of microtubule-destabilizing proteins that regulate the dynamics of microtubule polymerization and depolymerization. Stathmin promotes microtubule depolymerization during interphase and late mitosis. This microtubule depolymerizing activity of stathmin is regulated by changes in its level of phosphorylation that occur during cell cycle progression. These modifications allow it to play a critical role in the regulation of the dynamic equilibrium of microtubules during different phases of the cell cycle. Stathmin is expressed at high levels in a wide variety of human cancers. Inhibition of stathmin expression in malignant cells interferes with their orderly progression through the cell cycle and abrogates their transformed phenotype. Thus, stathmin provides an attractive molecular target for disrupting the mitotic apparatus and arresting the growth of malignant cells. In this review, we describe the current understanding of the role of stathmin in the regulation of the mitotic spindle and discuss its potential as a therapeutic target of cancer therapy.

KEYWORDS

Stathmin, mitotic spindle, microtubule depolymerization, cancer therapy.

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